Insights into a challenging, but rewarding life

UNCLE JIM’S BIG RED TRUCK

1. Go to Weirton, West Virginia (town of many hills and narrow streets)

2. Look for my sister-in-law’s house.

3. Go when there is a maze of construction – miles and miles of one-lane traffic.

4. Go in the night when there are no streetlights and infinite darkness.

5. Go when it is raining.

Aha – betcha get lost!

Anyhow – this was a very cool trip out East. One of my best friends ever went with me (Barb from Michigan) and what was even more fun was she had never seen this area that I’ve been to several times. I enjoyed showing her things she hadn’t seen before.

So, after we found my sister and brother-in-law’s house, we had a great supper and a good sleep and then spent the next morning visiting my in-laws in their new “place” which I haven’t seen before. We took a tour of town and then after lunch headed east on the Pennsylvania turnpike.

Now, you might think these are simply two pictures of the tunnels on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, – but to the child “me” the Pennsylvania turnpike tunnels were one BIG DEAL. You know how parents say things to get their kids to eat their food like “Here’s comes the airplane, where’s the hanger?” Well, to get me to eat my mom would say, “Here comes Uncle Jim’s big red truck right down the Pennsylvania tollway, where’s the tunnel?”

I traveled the PA turnpike a lot as a kid and my biggest fear was I wouldn’t be awake when we went through the tunnels. I always asked my parents to wake me up, no matter how late it was. I loved those tunnels.

The turnpike used to have seven tunnels through the mountains – they are now down to four. Barb and I only went through one – the Allegheny tunnel. Maybe not quite as exciting as going through it when I was two – but it brought back good memories.